With new figures hinting at continuing delays in the reporting of deaths in supportive housing, a mother who lost her son in a Vancouver rooming house hopes the new provincial government will step in.

Data obtained under the Access to Information Act suggest that some deaths in B.C.’s supportive housing system continue to go unreported to the B.C. Coroners Service for days, despite changes in practices in these buildings because of the overdose crisis.

Figures from 20 supportive housing buildings in B.C. show 37 people died in these buildings between July 21, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2016. It took an average of 1.7 days before a death was reported to the B.C. Coroners Service and at least seven deaths weren’t reported for two to four days.

With most deaths in B.C. being reported within a day, the figures suggest at least a delay in paperwork and perhaps continuing delays in discovering someone has died, though no one collects statistics specifically on delays in discovering deaths.

Despite receiving assurances that the supportive-housing system has improved procedures in recent years, the figures disappointed Christine Harris, who has been advocating change since her 30-year-old son, Lindsey Longe, died in a Coast Mental Health building in 2012.

Longe died of blood poisoning in a room at Coast’s Pacific Coast Apartments and his body wasn’t discovered for four days.

Earlier figures showed there were 82 deaths at a sample of 30 buildings between Jan. 1, 2010, and July 20, 2015, with an average of one day before the death was reported.

Comparing the 17 buildings identified in both sets of data — and removing one 17-day delay outlier — the average time between death and reporting remained about one day.

B.C. Coroners Service spokesman Andy Watson said delays in notification might depend on how long it takes before a friend, family member or caretaker finds the deceased, or the frequency of wellness checks in supportive housing.

“It wouldn’t be unusual for the average number of time (between death and reporting) to be a day because a number of factors can play in,” Watson said.

But Harris said she was “shocked and saddened” by the new data, which also show that another death had gone unreported, for two days, in the same building where her son died.

“There should be zero days between death and discovery,” Harris said.

In a coroner’s report following Longe’s death, released in May, the coroner recommends that B.C.’s housing minister consider introducing a legal definition of “supportive housing” and amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act to allow better services for supportive-housing tenants.

Harris said she’s working to arrange meetings to discuss these recommendations and other concerns with government officials.

While Harris arranges these meetings, she is developing a program that would have supportive housing tenants enter contracts with other tenants and agree to warn managers or landlords if a “buddy” isn’t seen for a set period of time. She hopes to have a pilot program run this fall.

Harris hopes the program will prevent further deaths and delays in the reporting of deaths, such as one extreme case at Marguerite Ford Apartments at 215 West 2nd Ave., where it was 17 days before coroners were notified that someone had died.

Catharine Hume, co-executive director at RainCity Housing and Support Society which runs Marguerite Ford Apartments, said she couldn’t provide details about the death but described the delay in reporting as an “extreme outlier” that led to swift action.

Hume said that delay led to changes in room-check policies and practices so that staff now ensure tenants are accounted for at least every 48 hours.

RainCity has been focused on saving lives, responding to 60 overdoses at its buildings between December and August, Hume said.

RainCity is making its supportive housing safer for people who use substances by offering more frequent checks and checking on more high-risk tenants during times of increased overdose concern, she added.

Bruk Melles, director of supportive housing and programs for B.C. Housing, said the overdose crisis has led B.C. Housing to standardize its approach to checks at supportive housing sites that have 24/7 staffing.

“We’ve amended their agreements to add the fact that they need to establish regular health and wellness checks — at minimum, every 48 hours and more frequently as necessary,” Melles said. “A lot of the non-profits actually do check far more regularly than that.”

Melles said supportive housing staff have been focus on building relationships with people who use substances so that staff are aware of who is at risk and so that tenants can feel safe informing staff about their drug use.

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